Delhi- Delhi Belly was the least of our worries

I left for Delhi on Tuesday evening at about 6 pm. We got to the airport uneventfully, checked in, and awaited our boarding time. We flew Go Air... and I don't think I've seen more seats crammed into an airplane before, but I suppose that is to be expected when you fly budget Indian airlines. We arrived to Delhi Airport (minus two, one missed the flight, the other stayed behind to fly with them) and attempted to get into the cars that would take us to our hotel (at this point, it is about 11 pm). For some strange reason, our coordinator only booked TWO cars to transport 14 of us and our luggage... can you sense trouble? We finally tied some of the luggage to the roof, sat practically two to a seat, and after 45 minutes of debate about how we were going to all fit, we were on the road. We checked into our hotel, but we were all starving from not having dinner. We traveled to what we were told was the only 24-hour restaurant in Delhi (a horrible lie we would later find out) which was actually a disorganized cafeteria type restaurant at one of the local train-stations. I have never seen a more chaotic system for ordering and collecting food. Our food took forever (thank goodness I always travel with my own food) and we would later come to learn three of us would get food poisoning (once again, thank goodness for traveling with tuna fish and protein bars) from the questionable train station food.

We FINALLY got back to the hotel at around 2 am and had to go through the long check-in process (here in India, every hotel has to collect a boatload of information from you, including your passport and visa vitals) which they decided couldn't wait until morning. At about 2:30, I was finally able to lay down to go to sleep for an 8 am wake-up call.

Wednesday morning we were scheduled to visit two companies... neither of which we made it to. Instead we visited GS Lighting which wound up being pretty much a sweatshop where they made lighting housings (their employees were paid Rs 3500/month (about $80), worked 12 hour shifts with only a total of an hour break (three tea breaks and a lunch break), and worked in hazardous conditions). We walked through the factory, where we had to dart in between sparks from the welding, and then sat down in their "conference room" to discuss their operations. At least they were honest when they said the only reason they worked there was for the money. It took us about 2 hours to find this factory though after we took many many wrong turns down dirt paths. Luckily, I had secured a coveted spot in Bhuvan's Car (Bhuvan, one of my fellow IMBA students, lives in Delhi so was able to drive us around... we later formed a "Pact" for Bhuvan's Car to ensure we could maintain our seat all three days of company visits), so the ride was slightly more pleasantly. A lot of the dirt roads were wet though... and Mark surmised that perhaps they were watering the road, so it would grow. I also saw a number of dirt roads being "swept"... a pretty fruitless effort if you ask me!

After a relatively short visit at this company (that was at least an hour drive from our hotel), we learned that we would have no more company visits for the rest of the day. We wound up finding a TGIFridays and I had a great great lunch. After TGIF, Bhuvan's Car (Mark, Colin, Mitika, Bhuvan, and myself) deciding to go shopping in a local mall. I don't even know how long it had been since I was in a nice enclosed mall... with escalators!! We spent probably more time in the mall than I cared to, especially since I'm on a budget, but the company was very enjoyable and entertaining. We eventually headed back to the hotel, but had a stop in at a 5-star hotel as our second member fell victim to food poisoning. Once back at the hotel, I settled in for the evening (I was exhausted from no sleep the night before) and watched Ugly Betty.

The next day, we woke up at 8 am for breakfast and ready to hit the road by 9 (which by India standards means 9:45). Today we actually had two company visits scheduled which was an improvement I suppose. Since we were down one in Bhuvan's Car (Colin stayed back for the day), we were able to allow Nic in (he was the first victim of food poisoning and had stayed back on Wednesday) and we hit the road. We went to IndoAsia Electrical Management where they made... something like a fuse box maybe. We had a factory tour which took forever, as each intricate step was explained to us (it didn't help that I had one of the danes, Mark, in my tour group who is very interested in manufacturing (he has an MS in Engineering something) who kept asking questions even after I told him he had reached his quota... his new nickname is Kaisen (actually it's Snoopy haha)). After our factory tour, where we learned minimum wage should actually be Rs 5000/month ($125... shame on you GS Lighting), we hit the road again and stopped at a mall for lunch. Delhi has an inordinate amount of malls, and I can't imagine how so many malls are supported, but I suppose it is a booming market. We (Bhuvan's Car) ate at Pizza Hut, and rushed back to meet the group at 1 pm to hit the road again... as we gulfed our food down, worried we would be late, we arrived back to the designated meeting place... only to wait 30 minutes for everyone else. Will I ever learn?

We headed to the next place...a textile mill. Minus the disgusting work conditions and cotton-filled air, it was pretty fascinating to watch fabrics made from raw materials (I kind of wanted us to keep walking to the beginning of the operations where there would be a small flock of sheep) to final product. It was really cool, but at that point I was quite tired and wanted to be asleep... and we would have a long day ahead. We had to ride back in one of the vans, since Bhuvan had to head directly home as he was hosting a dinner for us (which was coincidentally Thanksgiving eve) at his family home. On the way back we stopped at the newest temple in India, which was beautiful (but no cameras allowed), for a quick visit through. We had to go through a ridiculous amount of security and couldn't bring anything in... but the temple was really gorgeous. We tried to make a quick tour, but wound up waiting for about 30 minutes for the last person to arrive back at the car. Inside the car we were at war with the mosquitoes, that are in full force in Delhi... and I'm afraid I lost and am covered in itchy bites!

We hit horrible traffic, but finally made it back to the hotel in time to make a quick change and head back out to Bhuvans. There was quite a bit of drama and tension in the group because of recent events, which I can't disclose at this time, so we had quite the time deciding who would ride in what car with whom... quite childish if you ask me. We finally made it to Bhuvan's, about an hour and a half late which I felt horrible about, and had a delicious and wonderful time! This was the first Indian food I liked.. and I asked Bhuvan where I could get food like that in Bombay, and he just looked at me and said "You can't." Too bad! We had a really nice time just sitting around and relaxing. We returned to the hotel that evening and I went to bed, because once again we would have a 8 am wake up time.

Friday was our most successful day of corporate visits (up until then, our time in Delhi had been a waste as far as valuable visits were concerned... but it was on Welingkar's dime.... actually, it was on mine in the end I suppose). We visited Subros in the morning, which has a really impressive and modern plant (the first in India) complete with a lot of Japanese management techniques (which made Kaisen.. aka Mark, really happy). We then had a presentation where we learned more about the company (they manufacture auto air conditioners), and they also provided us with lunch! Our next company visit was to Nirula's, which is a fast food chain in India. We walked through two of their restaurants... I felt really bad for the diners, and then sat in a training room and they explained restaurant management to us. The highlight of that visit was the employee discount we got when we bought cookies at the cake shop! Bhuvan then dropped us off at our hotel, and everyone settled on plans for the evening. At this point, everyone was parting ways since we had a long weekend attached to our Delhi visit to allow for travel. Four of us wound up traveling to the Defence Colony and ate at a really great Italian restaurant.... so tasty. Mark and I split a White & Dark Chocolate Cake... and he said he would take 70% of the dark chocolate, and 30% of the white... since I wanted the white chocolate, and obviously he wanted the dark chocolate... but when the dessert arrived it was a Dark Chocolate Cake with like three random white chocolate chunks in it... so I had to fight for my 50%! The dinner we really good though, and it is always nice to get good food in India.

The four of us (Stella, Nic, Mark, and I) crammed into a rickshaw and headed back to the hotel because the Danes (Nic and Mark) and I had a very early wake up call (a car was picking us up at the hotel at 5 am to take us to the train station)....